ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
ITSM Structure &
Roles
Organisational Suggestions to
Support ITIL and ITSM
implementations
SUMMARY
This is a discussion document containing some key suggestions to support
a full or partial implementation of an ITIL-based Service Management
organisational structure.
It contains a suggested ‘ITIL standard’
organisation chart, some recommendations for implementing in small,
medium & large IT organisations plus some examples of role descriptions
for some of the key ITIL positions. This has been gathered from 20 years
experience of working with hundreds of IT Service Desks and Service
Management operations.
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
BACKGROUND
The ITIL Guidelines give some guidance on specific ITIL based roles &
responsibilities but actually include very little specific guidance surrounding
actual IT organisational structure or head count. This is because each
organisation is unique and it is difficult to give generic advice, which would
be relevant to every size and type of IT organisation.
The ‘Standard’ structures shown below are for reference only, and would
generally apply to a large and a smaller IT organisation. However they do
reflect the main areas required to support a service-focussed ITIL based
operation.
Any recommendations or suggestions documented here should be used as
a basis for discussion internally within your own organisation, perhaps with
the help of external consultants, to establish the best fit for your own needs
and business responsibilities now and in the future.
This document assumes a basic knowledge of the ITIL principles and
familiarity with related terms e.g. Incidents, Problems & Changes,
Availability Management, Capacity Planning etc.
In our experience, unless there are compelling reasons to justify radical
change, evolution rather than revolution is advisable for most organisations
– so that disruption to delivery of ‘business as usual’ is kept to a minimum
during any period of extensive change. By publishing the proposed new
structure in advance, allocating roles and giving staff time for preparation
and training - and gradually phasing in the actual changes, any disruption
can be minimised.
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
GENERAL DEFINTIONS
First Level Support
 Dedicated and managed Support area/telephone access
 Routine call and incident taking, logging and classification
 Initial fast resolutions to Routine Incidents – e.g. password resets
 Short term support to keep lines open and provide access to IT
 Calls within target guidelines before escalation – e.g. 5 - 10 minutes
 Generally at least 40% - 50% of calls resolved
Second Level Support
 Dedicated and managed Support area
 Longer resolution Incidents – e.g. more than 5-10 minutes
 Incidents that require greater technical knowledge or system access
 Fast Response and Target resolution times – support is highest priority
 Task to build Knowledgebase to ensure future response in Incident
Management/1st Level
 Involvement in the technical analysis and resolution of underlying Problems
 Generally 40% - 50% of calls resolved
Third Level Support
 Long Term Problem resolution
 Incidents/Problems that require high level of technical knowledge or system
access
 Task to build Knowledgebase to ensure future response in Incident
Management/1st or 2nd Level
 Generally less than 10% of calls handled
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
STRUCTURE
The first organisation chart represents a ‘standard’ ITIL structure, which would normally
require a large (100 fte +) IT Department to be able to implement fully. The second
chart represents an ITIL based adaptation better-suited to a smaller IT organisation.
Standard ITIL Structure
Head of IT
IT Service
Manager
Development
Manager
Strategy
Manager
Service Support
Service Delivery
Business
Teams
Account
Management
Service Desk
SLA Manager
Application
Development
Security
Problem Manager
Testing Manager
Application
Support (?)
IT Architect
Tech Support
Availability
Manager
Special
Projects
Operations
Capacity Manager
Contracts/
Procurement
Desktop Support
IT Continuity
Network Support
Financial Manager
Change/Config
/Release
Application
Support (?)
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
Small Organisation ITIL Structure
Head of IT
Service
Management
Business
Teams
Programme
Management
Service Desk
Infrastructure
Business Analysis
Systems
• Incident Mgmt
• Problem Mgmt
• Service Requests
• Business Analysis
Application
Support
• Change Co-ordination
• Project Management
• Change Management
• Commercial Mgmt
• SLA Reporting
• 2nd/3rd Level Support
• Account Management
• Vendor Mgmt
• Problem Resolution
• Contracts/Procurement
• Design & Planning
• Maintenance
• Projects
• Change ‘Building’
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
KEY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Service Desk
This position has overall responsibility for the day to day running of the Service Desk.
For large Service Desks one or more Supervisors or Team Leaders may be needed to
handle staffing and call handling and escalation issues. Also Service Desks who provide
support during extended service hours, may have ‘Shift’ Leaders or Supervisors to
provide management support at all times.
The number of Analysts required will depend upon the volume and nature of Incidents,
the Service Desk Incident resolution rate, average call handling time and patterns of
work e.g. hours of cover, shift patterns. More detailed breakdown of industry average
Service Desk statistics, including number of calls per Analyst and percentage resolution
rates can be obtained from the HDI white paper xxxxx.
In larger, busy Service Desks it may be helpful to create a dedicated role(s) for the
management of Incident queues and Customer communications away from the day to
day responsibility of answering the phones. This could be a dedicated role for an
individual(s) or could be carried out on a rotational basis across all Service Desk
Analysts.
Service Desk Role
1. Customer Interface: receiving all calls for Customers and ensuring these are logged
and dealt with, ensuring the Customer is kept up-to-date with progress and action on
all Incidents and Problems being managed by the department, providing regular
updates on status on service availability and Requests, communicating planned and
short-term changes of service levels to Customers;
2. Incident Management: recording and managing the life-cycle of all Incidents that
affect the service provided to IT Customers, allocating Incidents that cannot be
resolved by the Service Desk to second or third line support resources and coordinating the response of these resources;
3. Performance Management: monitoring and reporting IT performance against
service levels and key performance measures, providing management information,
identifying areas for service improvement, escalating events that may breach (or
have breached) service levels, identifying customer initiated service breaches,
recording details of events that breach service levels;
4. Service Management System: managing the service management system,
maintaining the standing and dynamic data, ensuring service levels, customer and
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
user information, services, support resources, etc. are maintained;
5. Service Desk Team: managing resources to ensure the Service Desk team meets
its objectives, providing guidance and assistance and meeting the development
needs of the individuals (including own needs), controlling and managing expenditure
related to team's activities;
6. Problem Management: identifying Problems that need to be referred to Problem
Management, contributing to the resolution of Problems where appropriate;
Incident Co-ordinator Role
1. Customer Interface: deliver high-quality communications with Customers during
service interruptions to their systems; focus on managing communications across
Customers and IT to ensure that Incidents are dealt with by priority and Customer
needs, providing regular communications to Customers across the organisation, e.g.
on outages etc, to maintain a positive and accurate image of IT and the Service
Desk;
2. Incident Management: monitor logged incoming Incidents and Requests, to ensure
that these are diagnosed and escalated to appropriate and consistent quality
standards; co-ordinate Service Desk, IT staff and Customers to ensure accurate and
appropriate communications during Incidents and Service Outages;
3. Problem Management: liasing with Service Desk Manager/Problem Manager to
escalate Major Incidents and contribute to Problem Management reviews and
process;
4. Service Level Management: monitor Incident queues to identify potential SLA
breaches; contact relevant IT staff / support groups to highlight any key SLAs that
may be breached. Liase with Service Desk Manager/Problem Manager to review
SLA performance, identifying key areas where communications and escalation can
be improved.
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
Problem Management
This role is responsible for both reactive root-cause analysis and proactive trend
analysis. It would be unusual for this to be a full-time role in smaller organisations but in
a large organisation there may well be a requirement for a team of Problem Managers
each with responsibility for a location, business or technical area. Where the team has
split responsibilities it is important that someone within the function has a more ‘overall’
responsibilities to ensure that duplication of effort is not made for similar or identical
Problems. In some smaller organisations this function could also be merged with other
roles such as Availability Manager, Capacity Manager or IT Service Continuity Manager.
Only in the very smallest of organisations should it be shared with the Service Desk or
across Support Groups to prevent conflicts of objectives or timescales. Typically if
combined with either of these groups reactive responsibilities will always take
precedence and the pro-active responsibilities of such a role will be neglected for a time
when ‘we are not so busy’, which of course will never come.
The Problem Manager should also be a strong individual with the ability to
communication and negotiate at all levels. Good organisational skills plus the ability to
motivate people across the organisation to provides solutions.
Problem Management Role
1. Customer Interface: delivering & managing high standard communications across
Customers and IT to ensure that Problems are dealt with by priority and customer
needs, providing regular communications to Customers across the organisation;
provide a practical representation of the Customer view within IT and the Service
Centre; attend Customer meetings, review SLA performance, take part in new
projects and represent the Service Centre viewpoint and input;
2. Major Incident Management: co-ordinate with Service Desk and Incident Coordinator in the identification of Major Incidents; manage Major Incidents, to ensure
that these are diagnosed and escalated to appropriate and consistent quality
standards; co-ordinate Service Desk, IT support staff and Customers to ensure
accurate and appropriate communications during Major Incidents;
3. Post Mortem Reviews: call and chair Post Mortem Review meetings following Major
Incidents; issue a written Post Mortem report to IT management; ensure Post
Mortem actions are completed in a timely manner;
4. Problem Management: manage Problems, to ensure that these are diagnosed,
logged and escalated to appropriate and consistent quality standards; co-ordinate
Service Desk, IT staff and Customers to ensure accurate and appropriate
communications during Problems;
5. Trend Analysis: produce trends analysis of recurring Problems/Incidents - extract
trends on Incident types, Customer types, key problem areas, depts, hardware types
etc; hold regular meetings with IT support groups to review recurring Problems and
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
press for final resolutions - or escalate; produce 'Escalation Reports' on recurring
issues and issues not being resolved.
Second & Third Level Support
Service Desk Analysts will provide first line support but if the Incident cannot be resolved
whilst the Customer is on the telephone and/or requires further work and/or more
detailed knowledge then it will be escalated to Second Level support staff to deal with.
Some larger organisations may wish to create cross-functional Second Level support
group as a separate unit with its own manager/supervisor.
Staff rotation between the Service Desk and support groups can be advantageous, as it
allows skills transfer to Service Desk staff, thereby increasing the first time fix rate, and
also allowing support group staff to assist the Service Desk by taking overflow telephone
calls during busy periods.
Second & third level support may be provided by 3rd party suppliers as part of one or
more outsourcing agreements. It is important that the negotiation and implementation of
such contracts includes the 3rd party’s agreement to adhere to internal Incident &
Problem Management processes. Also any agreed service targets contained with 3rd
party contracts, along with support group Operational Level Agreements, must underpin
any agreed Customer SLA targets.
Second & Third Level Support Roles
1. Incident Management: providing Incident management support to the Service Desk
team, ensuring all Incidents are managed in accordance with IT Incident and Major
Incident Management processes, within agreed service levels, and according to
Operational Level Agreement targets;
2. Problem Management: identifying new Problems and providing Problem
management support to the Problem Management team, ensuring all Problems are
managed in accordance with the IT Problem Management process and within agreed
service levels;
3. Service Requests: preparing and building approved equipment Requests, service
installations and system access requests in accordance with the IT Service Request
process, within agreed service levels, and according to Operational Level Agreement
targets;
4. Change Building: preparing and building authorised Changes, including the
production of back-out and testing plans; implementing approved Changes where
appropriate.
Change Management
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
It is common practice to combine this role with that of Configuration Manager and,
indeed, this often helps to support the requirement for seniority in this role.
In large organisations Change Management, or combined Change & Configuration
Management responsibilities may need to be separated, but the processes are closely
linked so it is important that they should come under a single reporting structure
wherever possible. In either case, one senior person can undertake the overall strategy,
approval and management responsibilities, where the day-to day administrative
responsibilities can be devolved to another role(s).
In large organisations a small team may be needed in each area. In smaller
organisations a senior manager can undertake the senior responsibilities as part of their
day to day role, whilst the majority of the CM function can be carried out by
administrative or Service Desk staff with various levels of authorisation devolved
between the various technical teams. There will need to be a link to Procurement, and
smaller organisations may wish to combine this role here as well.
Change Management Role
1. Change Management Process: overall responsibility for managing and developing
the CM process, ensuring that all there are no bottlenecks causing delays in
processing RFCs; monitoring the Change Management process on behalf of IT
including assessing needs and ensuring appropriate approvals, ensuring compliance
to agreed process across IT;
2. Change Authorisation: authorising all Major & Significant RFCs, ensuring sufficient
risk & impact analysis is undertaken; authorising all Urgent Changes and agreeing
the required level of testing for Urgent Changes via the Change Advisory Board
Executive Committee (CAB/EC);
3. Change Advisory Board: providing a body (CAB) which is responsible for
assessing proposed Changes for impact and estimating the resource requirements,
organising regular CAB meetings and chairing these meetings, ensuring appropriate
attendance at all CAB meetings, including representatives from IT and the business;
4. Change Scheduling: the provision of forward Schedules of Changes, distribution of
the Schedule to Business representatives and all areas of IT, including the Service
Desk and any other interested parties; ensuring the Schedule includes details of all
Changes that have been authorised for implementation, and the Release / date they
have been allocated;
5. Change Review: ensuring all Major & Significant Changes are reviewed after an
appropriate period to ensure that the desired effect has been achieved and assess
whether resource estimates were accurate, ensuring that this process is utilised to
improve future estimating.
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
Change Co-ordination Role
1. Change Logging: ensuring all Requests for Change (RFCs) are logged in IT
Service Management system; ensure correct & sufficient details are logged against
all RFCs;
2. Change Monitoring: monitoring the Change Management process on behalf of IT,
including assessing Minor RFCs and ensuring appropriate approvals, ensuring
compliance to agreed process for all RFCs; produce regular & accurate Change &
Request management reports;
3. Change Authorisation: authorising all Minor RFCs; participation in the authorising
of Urgent Changes via membership of the Change Advisory Board Executive
Committee (CAB/EC); regular attendance at Change Advisory Board (CAB)
meetings;
4. Change Review: ensuring all Minor & Urgent Changes are reviewed after an
appropriate period to ensure that the desired effect has been achieved and assess
whether resource estimates were accurate;
5. Asset Register: updating hardware, software & documentation assets, keeping
track of all assets, updating addresses and names within the IT Service Management
system; produce any required asset reports.
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ITSM STRUCTURE & ROLES
Account Manager/Customer Relationship Manager
This role acts as a high level, strategic liaison point between IT and the Business, where
the Service Desk provides a lower level day to day liaison point. Large organisations
may have a separate Account/CRM Manager for each major customer group or
business function. Where this role exists, some of the strategic and review
responsibilities of Service Level Management may be handled by this function. Indeed,
in smaller organisations the existence of such a role may negate the need for a
dedicated SLM function if the Service Desk is able to undertake the day to day and
reporting SLM responsibilities.
Where the Account Manager post is created at a strategic level, this function may also
include responsibility for the Service Desk, as the day-to-day interface with the
Customer, incorporating all aspects of SLM and Customer interaction.
Account Management Role
1. Customer Interface: liaison and co-ordination between Customers and IT delivery
and development groups; providing general advice, assistance, escalation and
consultancy; maintaining a high level of awareness of market developments and, in
particular, within the business area specific to the Customer; pro-actively
participating in the Customer’s thinking and planning processes;
2. IT Interface: providing regular input to IT and line management on Customer
requirements in order to achieve an efficient allocation and prioritisation of IT
resources;
3. IT Strategy: contributing to the development and planning of the IT strategy in
collaboration with the Customer and IT management by articulating the Customer’s
business requirements and possible impact to IT;
4. Service Level Management: development, negotiation and on-going management
and review of Service Level Agreements.
END OF DOCUMENT
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